The victory of the Law Firm in a dispute regarding the admissibility of preventive sobriety testing by the employer (XXI Pa 33/19)

In the court dispute, the GKW Law Firm represented the Company, which terminated the employment contract with an employee under a disciplinary procedure, indicating a serious breach of employee obligations as the reason, consisting in the employee’s refusal to undergo a preventive sobriety test.

The Regional Court in Warsaw stated that the order to undergo preventive sobriety tests was lawful, because the provisions of the Act on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism do not prohibit preventive sobriety tests for bus drivers, and do not indicate the only persons who are authorized to conducting the sobriety tests.

The refusal to undergo a preventive sobriety test was a justified reason for terminating the contract under Art. 52 § 1 point of the Labor Code.

The victory of the Law Firm before the Supreme Administration Court (II OSK 726/17)

The Law Firm appeared on the complaint to the Province Administration Court in Warsaw against the resolution of the Town Council in Piaseczno of September 2015 on the subject of establishing the  Regulations of using the Town Park specifying the ban on  allowing dogs to the premises of the  park in Józefosław.

The Province Administration Court in Warsaw ruled in favour of the plaintiff, and  repealed the item of the resolution regarding allowing dogs on 17 October 2016. In the Court’s opinion, the ban on allowing dogs to a public utility facility, which a park is, constitutes a violation of the competence granted in art. 4 para. 2 pt. 6 of the Act on Maintaining Order and Cleanliness. The Council may impose particular obligations on animal owners, but these obligations must aim at ensuring protection against a threat  or nuisance to people and against the fouling of the premises designated for common use.

In the Court’s opinion, the ban on allowing dogs to given premises is a measure that limits the freedom of movement and staying in a given place excessively. This freedom applies to all the citizens including animal owners. The aim of the Act, in the Court’s opinion,  does not permit such a far-reaching ban as  the one adopted by the Town Council.

The Town Council of Piaseczno appealed against the ruling of the Province Administration Court to the Supreme Administration Court. 

The Supreme Administration Court shared the view of the Court of First Instance, and found the  cassation appeal of the commune illegitimate. The Supreme Administration Court endorsed the position of the Law Firm ruling that the regulations of using the town park violated inhabitants’ rights, animal carers, prohibiting them from entering a publicly available area, which constitutes the limitation of freedom and human and civil rights.

 

More  information at:

www.prawo.pl/samorzad/wlasciciel-psa-nie-moze-byc-ograniczony-w-wolnosci-poruszania,370727.html